# What does the Mufti think of liberal Islam?

*Liberal Islam: political labels that do not fit Islam*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/10/
- Date: 2021-02-16 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #202| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (33:30–37:10)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PntsaR8ck&t=2010s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/

**Topics:** Islam and modernity

**Question as asked:** What do you think about liberal Islam?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Liberal and conservative are political labels about authority, he says, and they do not truly fit Islam, which never had a church-like hierarchy.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says labels such as liberal and conservative are very difficult to apply to Islam, which never really worked in that way.

**Evidence, his words at 35:23:** “it's very difficult applying these parameters to islam because islam never really worked in that way there was never really a papacy or a pope system in islam” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PntsaR8ck&t=2123s)

## Longer summary

After some banter with the chat, Mufti Abu Layth returns to the question of what he thinks about liberal Islam. He says terms like liberal and conservative defined political spectrums of where one stands in relation to authority and state control, and that in Europe liberation from the state also meant liberation from the church. He says it is very difficult to apply these parameters to Islam, which never had a papacy and whose scholars were usually independent, though there were power politics. He asks whether a liberal is someone who goes with the easy rulings, in which case some companions or Imam Abu Hanifa would be liberals, and says Muslims use the words to mean strict and not-so-strict Islam although those rulings come from scholars of the past who would not be called liberal.

## Sources and names cited

- Imam Abu Hanifa
- sahabah (companions)

## Transcript (machine tier, 33:30–37:10)

[33:30] the nerves are connected people the nerves are connected so um let's go back to what do i think about liberal islam right now i mean i'm not sure what that exactly means because there's a lot of these labels and i don't know if you can really apply these things to religion in that sense because really these were

[34:08] you see these terms like liberal and conservative and stuff like that were really uh defining spectrums of a polite of politics so it was to do with authority that where you stand in relation to authority that are you somebody who feels that the state should have more involvement in your life or do you feel that you know your anti kind

[34:46] of totalitarianism and anti-control and you want people to have more liberties and this is what liberal was in essence today to be fair many like um if we're gonna look at um the uk i suppose by that standard most politicians are liberal by that standard and then yes because europe its state was also intertwined with the church so

[35:23] liberalism being liberated from the state equally meant being liberated from the church because of its power it's very difficult applying these parameters to islam because islam never really worked in that way there was never really a papacy or a pope system in islam and it was never it's just a different paradigm the scholars were usually independent um and they are the ones who came up with the rulings now i'm not saying there were no power politics at play they were

[36:02] but it's not the same kind of um you know how do you define a liberal is it somebody that just goes with the easy rulings then in that case would you say the companions some of the companions were liberals i mean you wouldn't really use that word for them would you say imam abu hanifa was a liberal i mean it's really difficult understanding what these words mean in terms of islam i know a lot of muslims use them but they're not really they don't not truly meaningful they they seem to be

[36:41] using them to mean strict islam and not so strict islam but that's not you know because those rulings that they're going to go by will be said by scholars of the past nobody's making those rulings up so how does that work then because those scholars of the past wouldn't be defined as liberal so okay cool let's move on

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment --PntsaR8ck/s/10. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/10/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.